A Treatise on the Common Sole. By J. T. Cunningham.
(The Marine Biological Association, Plymouth.)—The common sole, as one of the most delicious of British fish, has had the honour—the well-deserved honour, we might say—of an elaborate monograph awarded to it. Mr. Cunningham not only discusses the biology of Solea, vutgaris, but also its habits, its distribution, and the place it occupies in the fishing world. Perhaps the moat interesting portion of the book is the chapter on colour, in which he relates and discusses experiments made on the adaptability of the skin of the fish to its surroundings. This is a truly marvellous and wonderful phenomenon, and one which most of us have noticed ; and though satisfactorily explained by the action of light on the pigment cells, is none the less a cause for admiration. We are not quite clear from the writer's words whether a gravelly bottom is good for soles or not. The best mode of cultivating the sole for economical purposes is a difficult problem; but whether Govern- ment would take the trouble to put in force the system (a most formidable business) he recommends, is doubtful. Still, the com- munity generally would gain, and the experiment has been suc- cessful with other fish of more certain habits, be it said. This is a most instructive account of the common sole, and the three less known species in British waters ; moreover, it is a handsome volume, with its plates on the colour-changes, and the muscular and bony structure of the fish.
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